Daily news

New satellite mission contract and second US
office for NanoAvionics

11 March 2020

NanoAvionics announced the
reception of a full mission contract for two 6U
nanosatellites and the opening of a new sales and
engineering support office in Columbia (IL), USA. The
mission contract includes payload integration, launch
and operation services for the two nanosatellites, both
of which are based on NanoAvionics' pre-configured M6P
bus. The launch of both satellites is planned for the
end of this year.

"Constantly increasing demand for
our standardized satellite buses and this latest mission
contract from a US commercial data services company
represents a significant milestone of NanoAvionics
penetration in the US market for New Space as well as in
the US Civil space sector", said F. Brent Abbott, CEO of
NanoAvionics North America. "Completing our Columbia
office will support our efforts to provide US customers
with the most cost-efficient satellite buses and hosted
payload flights in low Earth orbit (LEO)."

While NanoAvionics' US Columbia
Facility is the company’s second office in the United
States, it is set to be the primary NanoAvionics hub in
the Unites States. It is also the first satellite
factory in Illinois and the Midwest. The Columbia
Facility allows NanoAvionics' to take advantage of a
great talent pool from multiple local universities and
their graduates and staff equipped with nanosatellite
experience. The low cost of operations and living will
also allow NanoAvionics to maintain its competitive
status in a tough market. Following the opening of
NanoAvionics' US facility at the Midland Air and Space
Port last year, the company will keep it as a scalable
resource for high quantity nanosatellite bus production,
for both single missions and constellations.

"Nanosatellite buses are becoming a
commodity and we have been applying the same
standardization and principles that have been used in
the automotive industry for more than a century to
create a universal small satellite vehicle, capable to
host a big variety of payloads and be used for diverse
applications.”

The advantages and benefits of
NanoAvionics' industrial approach include reducing cost
by standardizing the bus design while increasing the
range and capabilities of the payload. NanoAvionics
estimates that more than 80% of the nanosatellite bus
can remain the same even when the mission and payload
varies. That in return means replicability, increased
reliability, lower costs and much shorter production
times which lead to greater speed to market and faster
revenues.

"Building hundreds of satellites
for the planned constellations in a short time frame of
12-15 months requires a universal bus design and an
industrial approach for the mass production of
nanosatellite buses. It's the next step in our mission
to become the go-to company for manufacturing and
launching nanosatellite constellations for businesses
worldwide."

Having been the first company to
develop a pre-configured nanosatellite bus, NanoAvionics
has already scaled their flagship M6P bus to achieve 12U
and 16U form factors, giving customers such as video
streaming media company Sen more possibilities for their
missions and payloads.

"These reductions in cost and the
much shorter production times while increasing the
options for mission payload and keeping the same high
standards, will enable businesses to generate real
downstream revenues."